Velodyne Lidar Tops Winning Urban Challenge Vehicles
Morgan Hill, CA (November 7, 2007) The Velodyne HDL-64E High Definition Lidar sensor was used by five out of six of
the finishing teams at the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, including the winning and second place teams. Tartan
Racing Team from Carnegie Mellon University won the event with Boss, a fully autonomous Chevy Tahoe that
navigated through a network of roads set up to simulate the type of terrain encountered by U.S. military
forces deployed overseas. Boss covered 60 miles under simulated urban driving conditions, all the while
obeying traffic laws and avoiding obstacles, with the best time and fewest errors.
"The Velodyne sensor is a revolutionary device and it was critical to our success at the Urban Challenge," said
Chris Urmson, Director of Technology for the Urban Challenge, Carnegie Mellon University. "We used it to
reduce false positives resulting in our smooth driving motion. The 3-D nature of the Velodyne was essential
in differentiating objects such as walls and vehicles from the ground plane. In our home testing grounds near
Pittsburgh, which are quite hilly, this was especially important."
The Velodyne HDL-64E sensor was also utilized by the second place team, Stanford Racing Team's Junior. "The
Velodyne HDL-64E was a major asset in our Junior robot and contributed significantly to our second place finish
in this challenging race," said Sebastian Thrun, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University.
Other teams that completed the DARPA Urban Challenge using the HDL-64E included MIT, Team Cornell and Ben
Franklin. "The Velodyne sensor provided expansive and dense sensor coverage around our vehicle," said Edwin
Olson, Team MIT. "It served as our primary sensor for detecting static obstacles and curbs, as well as for
tracking moving vehicles – it's hard to imagine building an autonomous car without one."
Eleven finalists were selected for the final event out of the 35 semi-finalists. Seven of the finalists
utilized the Velodyne HDL-64E.
The HDL-64E enables construction of a rich terrain map without the need to fuse multiple sensors together. The
unit employs 64 lasers, each fixed at a specific height across a 26-degree vertical spread. The entire unit spins,
with each laser firing thousands of times per revolution, giving a 360-degree horizontal field of view. The HDL-64E
generates one million distance points per second, providing for a point cloud that is much denser than previously
possible.
"We never dreamed that the HDL-64E prototype we developed for the last Grand Challenge would be productized and
so widely accepted at the Urban Challenge," said David Hall, CEO and chief engineer of Velodyne. "It is a true
honor to be part of these fine teams' sensor solutions. We'd like to congratulate the Tartan team for their
winning performance, as well as Stanford and the other participants. We'd also like to thank DARPA for the great
events they have conducted and for the opportunity to showcase our technology," Hall continued.
About Velodyne
Velodyne, founded in 1983, is a leading manufacturer of high definition lidar sensors. Headquartered in Morgan
Hill, California, the company’s HDL-64E sensor is used in a variety of military and commercial autonomous
vehicle applications as well as 3-D mapping, surveying and other applications. For more information visit
www.velodyne.com/lidar.
About DARPA
DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). The Agency
manages and directs basic and applied research and development projects for DoD and pursues research and
technology that provide dramatic advances in support of military missions.
Velodyne Contact:
Ann Gargiulo, 408-465-2817
agargiulo@velodyne.com